the spectacle I have always imagined

“New York proved to be the spectacle I have always imagined, and the subsequent book is my response to this wonderful city.”  Salvatore Rubbino

Reading Rubbino’s book, A Walk in New York, made me so homesick for the east coast; homesick for living close enough to NYC that I used to actually be able to take a train into the city and be there in about 3 hours—the book even begins with the father and son getting off a train and making their way to the upstairs level of Grand Central Station, just like I used to! Reading this book was like taking a walk down memory lane, looking at familiar buildings and some of the places I loved:  New York Public Library, Union Square Park, the Hudson River, and the book wouldn’t be complete without a taxi cab ride!

What I loved about the book: Rubbino’s use of subdued colors allows the reader to slowly take everything in and enjoy his attention to detail, and no detail is left out—down to the taxi cab drivers’ licensing number—with every inch of the page covered in Rubbino’s sketches…and rightly so! It’s NYC, for Heaven’s sake, you could fill volumes of books!

Another thing I love about this book (and Rubbino’s A Walk in London) is that there is a story being told, but there is also information on each page presented in a different font, in slightly smaller text, about all kinds of stuff, i.e. did you know that, “The New York Public Library opened in 1911 with a collection of more than one million books, including children’s books.” OR “Manhattan is a port. Oil, molasses, cocoa beans, grain, machinery, and lots of other things pass up and down the river in ships and tanker barges.”

*SIGH* When can I again meander down country roads to a waiting train that will transport me to a city which always made me feel so small, so insignificant, and yet so wonderfully alive?